In the event we had neither on Saturday, it was drizzling to start and misty at best as we climbed Gavel Neese upto the Gable Traverse; I went to have a look at conditions up Needle Gully but I decided it was best not to risk the slippery slabs of the Dress Circle. We walked along the traverse path until I lost it, then clambered over the greasy boulders below Kern Knotts before finding the path to Styhead. We climb Gable's Breast Route and from the misty summit, I managed not to embarrass myself by finding the right path first time that takes you down to Beck head. It is a path in its broadest sense, there are cairns to show the way but you have some excellent clambering over boulders, except that the rocks were slippery enough to be tricky, and potentially dangerous. After a couple of worrying moments we got down unscathed to Beck Head, where the mist was thick and the terrain gave no clues as to where we were. A combination of my familiarity with the geography and trust in my compass got us across to the start of the ascent of Kirk Fell. Following the fence all the way to the summit is a much easier way to navigate; and the mist began to break up when we reached the summit. We followed the fence back down to Beck Head and the mist had cleared, so we could see our way back to Gavel Neese, and the sun shone as we descended back to Wasdale Head.

On Sunday morning the sun was shining as we followed the path from the hostel, around the end of Wastwater to Lund Bridge, where we crossed the swollen River Irt, before walking across the fields to find the start of the ascent of Whin Rigg. The path starts near the bottom of Greathead Gill, you don't enter the gill because an obvious footpath takes you steeply uphill through the bracken. It was warm work in the sunshine; once we got past the bracken the gradient eased slightly, but it is still a slog up to the ridge, at least you can see the ridge which is encouraging. There is an obvious path along the plain green ridge to the summit of Whin Rigg; you have a choice of paths from then, the swampy ridge path that gets you directly to Illgill Head, or the interesting path with a view along the edge. There was no argument as I suggested the path along the edge, you have a fascinating and spectacular view of the deep gullies, shattered crags and narrow ridges that suddenly fall away.

At the summit of Illgill Head, and more especially at the slightly higher cairn at the end of the summit ridge, we had a hazy view of most of the best of Wasdale's hills, only Scafell was completely hidden by mist. After a straightforward, if lengthy, descent back to the valley, we turned onto the Screes path - an easy low-level walk back to the hostel? After passing the fields of Wasdale Head Hall Farm we got onto the path that traverses the slopes above Wastwater, initially through bracken where you could easily fall of the soft path if you are not careful - no harm done, fortunately. The first stony section of the path is straightforward, more bracken follows, a couple of tree branches to duck under as you walk across the slippery roots, and then a more rugged stony section. By now you might be thinking that the warning notice at the start of the path might have been over-stating the difficulty of the path, but after the next vegetated section of path you can see what it was going on about. Up on the spectacular scree slopes above, a huge house-sized boulder sits above you as you clamber over boulders, boulders and more boulders. Eventually you reach the largest of the boulders, only room-sized at this level, before another pleasant but strenuous boulder field set at an angle of forty-five degrees.

That's about it, a final walk back to the hostel for a cup of tea before heading back to Scotland

© Andy Wallace 13th & 14th September 2008